


Match Made In Heaven

by sasayuri



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dongwoo Just Wants To Help, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 21:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14174055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasayuri/pseuds/sasayuri
Summary: Sunggyu is assigned as the tutor of his long-lost high school crush and he's not quite sure how to feel about that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language, so please bear with me ♥  
> (Do tell me if you spot any mistakes, it'll help me improve!)

Dongwoo sat down at his desk after his lunch break with a new surge of motivation. He was working in the Welcome Office at his university and he had been entrusted with a new project that was supposed to make the first semester easier for new students. He typed in his password, eagerly opened the list with all incoming students and welcome tutors and scanned their information for potential matches. As he gleefully scrolled through the newly registered names, his eyes got caught on a familiar one, although it took him a few seconds to remember where exactly he had last heard it. “No way,” he muttered to himself when realization hit him. Throwing all morals and guidelines aside, he immediately entered the two names that were obviously destined to appear together into the system as a match. He couldn’t help the excited smile that spread across his face. He loved his job.

 

* * *

 

“You matched me with Nam Woohyun? Nam. Woo. Hyun? Out of all people?”

Sunggyu should have known that something was up when he saw Dongwoo waiting outside his classroom with that foreboding, way too excited look in his eyes. Tuesdays were the only days their schedules actually matched in that Dongwoo got off work slightly earlier than Sunggyu got out of his last class. They usually took the opportunity to have dinner together, sometimes they got snacks from the nearest convenience store instead and headed straight to Dongwoo’s place from there to play video games or watch a movie. Today they just ended up sitting down on one of the stone benches on campus after Dongwoo had babbled on for the entire time it took them to get outside.

“You two were leftovers! I had to match you with someone. It’s almost like it was meant to be. A match made in heaven.”

Sunggyu sighed heavily. He should have never allowed Dongwoo to sign him up for his stupid project, but while he was a little grumpy, he wasn’t a complete asshole (contrary to what many people thought, apparently) and had easily given in to Dongwoo’s enthusiastic suggestion. “I wasn’t aware heaven is a shabby little university office,” he grumbled.

Much to Sunggyu’s surprise, Dongwoo didn’t acknowledge his little joke, not even with a simple display of finger guns, and merely shook his head with a dreamy smile. “Nonetheless, the gods wanted it to be.”

“Don’t fuck with me, Dongwoo.”

Dongwoo pouted in an obvious attempt to appease his sulking friend but he couldn’t hold it up for long before he broke out into embarrassed laughter. “Alright. I matched you two the second I saw his name and I regret nothing. Je ne regrette rien.”

“What?”

“That’s French for-“

“I fucking know what that means, oh my God, even thirteen-year-olds know that. I mean, what, you absolute buffoon, did you do? WHY did you do it?”

Now, Dongwoo was a cheerful person but he would not tolerate being called a buffoon, not even by Sunggyu. “Uhm, if I remember correctly - and I do - a certain someone was completely heartbroken when his favorite ball kicking junior left the country to who knows where.”

Sunggyu winced at the mention of what was possibly the darkest, most secret part of his past. “Japan, actually, and I wasn’t heartbroken, don’t be ridiculous,” he retorted sulkily.

“Of course you were. You wrote songs about him for months on end after he left.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong, but Sunggyu damn sure wished he was. He dragged a hand over his face in exasperation, already feeling himself giving up. “You’re seriously making me do this?”

“Absolutely,” Dongwoo said with a firm nod of his head. Once he sounded this determined, there was barely a point in trying to get out of whatever he wanted. Sunggyu made one last weak attempt anyway.

“How do you even know it’s him and not just some random dude with the same name?”

“Checked his DOB,” Dongwoo said proudly. “First thing you do as his tutor should probably be telling him to check his privacy settings.”

“Jesus Christ. How am I even going to act around him? Should I pretend I’ve never seen him before? What if he finds out we went to the same high school? What if _he_ remembers _me_? No, wait, that’s actually impossible.”

“Well, maybe he would remember you if you had actually gone to his games and cheered him on instead of just watching him practice from the music room.”

“Shut up. I know high school me was pathetic, you don’t need to remind me. And besides, those girls in his so called fan club were awful, I didn’t want to be anywhere near them.” Just the memory was enough to make him shudder. Fangirling high school girls were probably the scariest thing this planet had to offer.

“You could’ve still asked him out,” Dongwoo insisted teasingly.

“Yeah, right, because that wouldn’t have been creepy at all. Or embarrassing. Or a reason for both his fan club _and_ his entire soccer team to beat me up. Repeatedly. For the rest of my high school days.”

“Stop being so overdramatic.”

“But it’s true!”

“You think too much,” Dongwoo chided him with a soft smile.

Sunggyu knew he did but that didn’t mean he could just choose not to. Overthinking was his natural state of being, the default setting of his brain. Sometimes he wished he could be a little more like his best friend – cheerful, carefree, optimistic. Every now and then, Dongwoo’s personality rubbed off on him just enough for him to make a bold decision, and every single time it ended up sending him into a mild panic until Dongwoo managed to calm him down again. He’d almost started to hyperventilate after dying his hair a bright red that one time in their freshman year.

Sunggyu sighed in defeat. “So I have to message him first?”

Dongwoo smiled at him brightly and shoved his thumbs up so far into Sunggyu’s face that the latter thought he might have to say goodbye to his nose any second now.

“Yes! All welcome tutors must message their counterpart first as per regulation,” he quoted in a sing-song voice.

“Casual? Formal? Do I text him or send an email?”Sunggyu could already feel his mouth go dry. God, he would never be able to actually confront Woohyun at this rate.

“Most people send emails, casual is fine though. Don’t make it too formal, that might scare him off. The rest is up to you.”

Sunggyu looked at Dongwoo with an all too familiar panic in his eyes. “No! You can’t make me do this on my own! I need your help! You know how much I suck at everything that involves any sort of communication.”

Dongwoo slowly shook his head. “Remember what you used to tell me when I asked you to help me with my homework?”

“To do it by yourself first and that I could always read through it after. Dammit.”

“Sucks to live by your own rules, hm?”

“Fine. I’ll write a draft.” Sunggyu reluctantly took his phone out of his pocket and signed into his email account.

“Dear Nam Woohyun.” He stared at the screen and quickly deleted those first few words again. “No, that’s weird,” he muttered to himself. “Hello Woohyun.” He looked at the words for a few seconds and nodded in approval. “That’s better. Hello Woohyun. My name is Kim Sunggyu. I just got notified that I will be your welcome tutor next semester.”

Sunggyu hesitated and shot Dongwoo a side glance. “Next semester? Is that okay? I mean, technically, I’m supposed to answer his questions leading up to the semester as well, so –“ He stopped himself when he saw Dongwoo’s disbelieving expression. “Okay, okay, I’ll just take it out.” He took a deep breath and backspaced to the previous sentence. “Blah blah, welcome tutor, period. Let me know if you have any questions? Feel free to contact me if you have any questions? Too formal?” He let out a frustrated huff when he saw Dongwoo raising his eyebrows even higher. “What do you want me to write then?” He let his voice drop deeper and put on a bored expression. “Yo bro. Sup. Im ur welcome tutor dude, so hmu, or nah, whatevs. Lol k bye.”

Dongwoo couldn’t hold in his laughter after Sunggyu’s little performance. “Sounds like something Hoya would write,” he said, still in between giggles.

Sunggyu felt a little cheered up by his friend’s reaction and even allowed himself to give in to that amused smile that was tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Doesn’t it?” He sighed, not nearly as gravely as before, as he came to a decision. “You know what? I don’t care if it sounds too formal. I’m a formal person. He’ll just have to deal with that.” He looked over his email again, made some last changes and added his contact info at the end. “And send. There. Are you happy now?”

Dongwoo nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, very.”

Sunggyu couldn’t help but laugh at his childlike grin. “You’re too pure for this world, Dongwoo.  So pure, and yet so evil.”

 

* * *

 

“Dongwoo!”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you match a music major with a sports science major?”

“Leftovers!”

“What?”

“They were leftovers? Completely incompatible with anyone else.”

“Have you heard from them? Did they agree to this? Are they going to complain? We can’t afford complaints at this early stage of the project, we need the funds.”

“Oh, they won’t complain, trust me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was the first chapter! I hope you guys liked it.
> 
> This is my first multi-chaptered fic in years and I'm both a little nervous and excited.  
> Chapter 2 is already in the works but I'm always happy about any sort of feedback, ideas and suggestions that might help me write more content that you guys enjoy ♥
> 
> Fun fact! Dongwoo's job in this is actually part of my job irl, so that's where the idea came from, minimal creativity needed :D


	2. Chapter 2

Sunggyu almost fell off his bed when his phone vibrated violently in his hands. He had been comfortably lounging on his stomach with a pillow propped up under his chin and both arms stretched out in front of him, thumbs tapping on the screen lazily in a half-hearted attempt to level up in a mediocre online game. The message from “Unknown” had come as a surprise and Sunggyu glared at the notification in defiance. Did this digital heart attack even deserve to be opened? He blew a stray strand of hair out of his face and sat up clumsily, messing up the bedsheets in the process. Who even had the nerve to disturb Kim Sunggyu at the ungodly hour of – he checked the time in the upper corner of the screen – five thirty in the afternoon?

He tapped on the notification and was redirected to his messaging app. His heart skipped a beat when his eyes fell on the name at the end of the message. Woohyun. It had been a few days since he’d sent him that email, and he hadn’t forgotten about the whole thing as much as he’d forcefully shoved it to the very back of his mind in order to be able to continue life as a functioning member of society. He gripped his phone a little tighter and tried to concentrate on the actual message in front of him.

_Hey Sunggyu! Just read your email! Sorry for the late reply, I didn’t really expect to hear from my tutor so soon, haha. Is it okay if we meet up sometime before the semester starts? There are so many things I want to ask you! Maybe we could meet in a café near campus? Hope to see you soon! Woohyun_ _:)_

Sunggyu hated himself for blushing because of a stupid text message but he couldn’t help it. Nam Woohyun was talking to him and he sounded just as sweet and cheerful as he’d always imagined him to be. He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. It should be easy to answer Woohyun’s message now that they’d established contact, right?

Except that it wasn’t.

 

 

 

“Dongwoo, he texted me.”

There was a moment of silence at the other end of the line. “Uh… who?”

“Leonardo DiCaprio, who else.”

“What?” Dongwoo sounded confused, and Sunggyu had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at his almost adorable inability to pick up on sarcasm.

“Nam Woohyun, you little idiot. Nam Woohyun texted me.”

The excited shriek that followed Dongwoo’s realization forced Sunggyu to hold his phone at an arm’s length lest he would lose his impeccable hearing. “Ah, Namu! Of course! What did he write? Did he say anything about high school? No, wait, don’t tell me anything yet, I’ll be at your place in six, no, seven minutes.”

Sunggyu frowned. “Dongwoo, you don’t have to come over just because of a text message.”

“Dude.” Dongwoo’s voice had dropped about ten octaves and despite his accusatory tone the sudden change almost made Sunggyu laugh.

“What?”

“Did you actually forget that I’m coming over for chicken and pizza night?”

“Uhhh…”

“Unbelievable!”

“Sorry?”

“You’re paying!”

“Yeah, fine, whatever.”

Sunggyu really didn’t mind; he probably would have volunteered to pay for the meal anyway. Even though he would have never admitted it on front of anyone else, he was fully aware of the fact that Dongwoo tended to bring out the otherwise deeply hidden protective instincts in him.

For the briefest of moments after they’d hung up, Sunggyu considered changing out of his pyjamas into something more suitable for welcoming a guest into his home, but he quickly dismissed the thought with an amused snort. Who was he kidding? Dongwoo probably didn’t even know what he looked like in a pair of jeans anymore.

 

 

 

He didn’t bother to leave the comfort of his bed until he heard the doorbell ring. On his short way over to the front door of his modest apartment he tried to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes with the back of his hand and mentally prepared himself for the whirlwind that was Jang Dongwoo.

Unsurprisingly, Dongwoo almost knocked him over the second he opened the door, energetic and overenthusiastic as ever.

“Whoa there!” Sunggyu quickly took a step back and made sure to get out of Dongwoo’s range while the latter kicked off his shoes and peeled off his jacket to leave them by the entrance.

“I didn’t order anything yet,” Sunggyu excused the current absence of food, “I wasn’t sure if you wanted the usual or something else, so…” He trailed off mid-sentence, slightly weirded out by Dongwoo’s glowing expression. “What’s up with you?”

“Show me the message!” Dongwoo was jumping up and down on the spot by now, excitement radiating from his entire body.

“Don’t be disappointed though, he didn’t really write much,” Sunggyu warned him, one hand rubbing his neck in a sudden rush of embarrassment while the other was unlocking his phone. Dongwoo impatiently snatched the device away from him, leaving him with nothing else to do but watch his reaction to Woohyun’s text. It was like witnessing a baby who saw a fluffy kitten for the very first time in that there was a lot of squealing and arm-flailing. It was hilarious.

Dongwoo had a lot to say about the few sentences Woohyun had sent him – analyzing the smiley face at the end alone took him long enough for Sunggyu to order and receive their traditional combination of chicken, pizza and soda. Sunggyu pretended not to care, but he knew that Dongwoo knew that he listened to every single word and thoroughly stored it in a special corner of his brain to overthink it later.

“Have you checked his instagram?” Dongwoo suddenly asked after finishing another slice of greasy goodness.

“No, of course not.”

“Can I?”

Sunggyu momentarily stopped chewing and glared at him suspiciously. “You already have, haven’t you?”

“It was too tempting! It’s all public! And linked to his facebook profile!”

“Wow. Why am I not even surprised.”

Dongwoo shot him his trademark toothy smile. It looked a little silly considering half his face was covered in tomato sauce. “Took me forever to find his pinterest account though,” he added after a second.

“Dongwoo!” Sunggyu had been friends with him long enough to know that he had uncovered and sifted through every single account that was in any way linked to Nam Woohyun at this point. It didn’t exactly come as a shock, but he still needed to express his disapproval as a matter of principle.

“Sorry.” He didn’t look sorry. “You really don’t want to take a look? Follow him to show you’re interested?” He raised his brows repeatedly, prompting Sunggyu to throw a napkin at him.

“No! I don’t follow people unless it occurs naturally!”

Dongwoo seemed skeptical. “Occurs naturally?”

“Yeah.” Wasn’t it obvious?

“Please do elaborate.” Apparently it was not.

Sunggyu took a deep breath. “You know, like, when we meet at a café, for example, maybe he’ll take a picture of some latte art or his pastries or whatever the fuck he’s going to get and be like, hey, can I tag you in this picture of my food so that people see that I’m actually with someone and not some sort of loser who goes to a café all by himself to take pictures of cake or whatever.”

“You go to cafés all by yourself all the time.”

“Shush, not the point, and I wasn’t finished. So he asks for my username and I’m going be all like, well, I don’t use instagram that much, but sure, I’m gyu357, and then he tags me and checks if it works and while he’s already on my profile he might as well follow me, right? So that happens and then I check my notifications to see that he tagged me in that latte art picture-“

“I thought he tagged you in a picture of his food.”

“-food picture, hashtag good times or whatever young people these days write as a caption, and then, then I follow him back because let’s be honest, anything else would be awkward at this point.”

“You sure thought about this a lot.”

“I think about everything a lot.”

“True.”

“I can’t have people think I’m a creepy stalker who miraculously knows all their social media accounts.”

“He doesn’t have to know you did some research. You could just use it to plan what you’re going to talk to him about. Find some conversation starters. Figure out his weaknesses.”

“What.”

“We both know you suck at talking to people you just met. Especially cute people.”

“Cute?” A new wave of dread washed over Sunggyu at the thought that Woohyun might actually still be as cute as he had been in high school. Part of him had hoped that maybe he had lost some of his attractiveness over the years and he wouldn’t feel too self-conscious around him once he realized that, but if even Dongwoo thought he was cute now, he was doomed.

Dongwoo either didn’t notice any of Sunggyu’s inner distress or chose to ignore it. “Well, I could tell you all about that, or even better, show you, but you’re refusing all my noble attempts at helping you.”

“Not true. In fact, I am desperate for help.”

“I’m not gonna write that message for you.”

Sunggyu whined and produced the closest thing to a pout he could muster. “You could just think out loud and let me do the typing.”

“Nope.” Dongwoo leaned back on his hands with a content smile, clearly enjoying his current position of power.

“At least tell me how to start?”

When he didn’t get an immediate answer Sunggyu made direct eye contact with Dongwoo and it almost seemed like he finally got him until he opened his mouth. “Hiiiiiii, seven i’s, three exclamation marks.” He said it so matter-of-factly, Sunggyu almost fell for it.

“You’re kidding,” he said slowly, not quite able to hide the doubt and confusion in his voice.

Dongwoo snorted with laughter. “You’re hopeless.”

“No, I’m not!” He had to fight the urge to stick out his tongue like a rebelling toddler.

“Just pretend it was me who texted you. How would you reply to me?”

“I probably wouldn’t, I’d just wait for you to get impatient enough to call me.”

Dongwoo clutched at his chest with a dramatic gasp. “You do that on purpose? I thought you’re just forgetful.”

“Dongwoo, please, you know our dynamic and you know I’ve been doing that same thing since high school.”

Dongwoo nodded and brought up a hand to stroke his imaginary beard. “It’s probably my fault you still suck at social interactions. I should have never let you get away with that.”

“Yeah, anyway, how do I reply to NWH?”

“You sure you haven’t been on his instagram?”

“What? Why?”

“Never mind. Just pretend you’re replying to me, when you’re in a good mood, and also slightly tipsy.”

“That would actually include a Hi with thirteen plus i’s though.”

“Hmm, yeah, you should probably settle for one i this time.”

_Hi!_

Sunggyu typed the letters slowly, carefully, as if he was worried he could scare them away again.

“It’s only a matter of hours now,” Dongwoo said cheerfully and effortlessly ducked the half-hearted punch from Sunggyu.

“Help me then, don’t let me squeeze it out of you bit by bit.”

“Just suggest a time and place and ask if that’s okay for him.”

And that’s exactly what he did. It took him no less than 36 minutes to choose the right place (his favorite café a few blocks down from the campus) and to figure out how soon would be soon enough but not too soon (Friday afternoon). When he had finally crafted a message that he was satisfied with and hit sent another 27 minutes later, he collapsed onto Dongwoo who was sprawled out on the floor next to him.

“See, that wasn’t so hard,” Dongwoo said with a pat on Sunggyu’s head.

Sunggyu had already opened his mouth to tell his socially competent friend just how hard it had been when he was interrupted by the vibrating sound of his phone. He opened the message without hesitating this time, all the energy it would take for him to freak out had already been drained from his body.

_Sounds great! See you Friday ;)_

Sunggyu groaned when he saw the winking face at the end. He would never get Dongwoo to shut up once he saw it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeees, an update, finally!
> 
> I meant to do this a lot sooner but I was busy with uni, and then I got sick, and then I was busy again... such is life. Also, remember how I said I'd already started working on chapter 2 when I uploaded chapter 1? Yeah, I rewrote all of that because I suddenly hated it. Let me know what you think about this new and (hopefully) improved version :D  
> Woohyun was only in this chapter in the form of text messages but he'll definitely actually appear in chapter 3 ♥ 
> 
> Last but not least, thank you to everyone who left kudos and comments so far, you guys really keep me motivated :')


	3. Chapter 3

He was early. Woohyun and he were supposed to meet at four but Sunggyu was already standing in front of the café’s French windows by 3:49. Even though the weather was relatively mild and sunny Sunggyu hated that he had put himself in a position where he had to wait outside. He had taken his time to make sure not to stand too close to the door in order not to block anyone’s way but now he was just waiting in his carefully chosen spot like an unsightly statue. He awkwardly held his phone clutched in both hands because he wouldn’t know what to do with them otherwise and glanced down at the screen every few seconds to check the time, half-expecting to see a message from Woohyun pop up, cancelling on him last minute.

By 3:59 Sunggyu was hyperfocusing on a gigantic dreamcatcher in the shop window across the street. It seemed still at first glance, but the dancing reflections on the pearls dangling down from it revealed that it was actually moving ever so slightly. Under other circumstances, Sunggyu might have actually found it calming.

“Hey,” a deep voice suddenly said out of nowhere and he flinched at the unexpected noise next to him. He was fully expecting a stranger who wanted to mock him for staring into the distance like a madman when he turned his head to glare at him - and was completely taken aback when he was instead confronted with a big smile and an all too familiar face.

Sunggyu wasn’t usually an impolite person, on the contrary, but in this moment he couldn’t help but stare with his mouth hanging open. “You’re blond,” he said intelligently. When Woohyun had told him to look for someone with light hair, he had expected a slightly lighter shade of brown than his natural color, not… this. The color looked amazing on him, of course, and so did his clothes. His light hair was matched by a white cardigan that looked so velvety soft it was hard for Sunggyu not to reach out and touch it, and contrasted by a plain black shirt and ripped skinny jeans. Sunggyu wondered if Woohyun knew how great he looked in this outfit or if he had just thrown on the first things he’d found in his closet fully aware that he would look good in just about anything. He subconsciously grabbed the hem of his favorite red hoodie, suddenly feeling weirdly underdressed. Woohyun stifled a laugh and Sunggyu could feel the blood rushing straight into his cheeks. So much for making a good first impression.

“Uhm, I mean…” He was lost for words and the playful glint in Woohyun’s eyes wasn’t helping.

“Hello to you too, Kim Sunggyu,” Woohyun said in his smooth voice and Sunggyu wanted to melt into a puddle right then and there and seep into the ground to vanish out of Woohyun’s sight forever. It had been less than a minute and he had already made a complete fool of himself. And why , for heaven’s sake, did it sound so good when Woohyun said his name?

He cleared his throat and forced himself to look at Woohyun again. “Do you want to go inside?” he asked as if he wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown. Woohyun nodded, the smile never fading, and quickly stepped over to the café’s front door to hold it open for Sunggyu to enter first.

“After you.”

Sunggyu was both reluctant and eager to follow Woohyun’s invitation. Reluctant because he was slightly taken aback by the gentlemanly behavior, and eager because getting inside meant entering familiar surroundings and getting a much-needed cup of coffee. Woohyun followed him closely and Sunggyu walked up to the counter with renewed confidence. He knew this place. He knew the baristas. He knew exactly what kind of order would make him sound like a true connoisseur.

He greeted the girl behind the counter by name and ordered a very specific and complicated sounding brew with a deliberate casualness, fully aware that Woohyun was staring at him from the side. When he turned around to ask him what he would like to drink – because yes, Sunggyu was most definitely paying for both their orders, especially after the whole door holding thing – Woohyun looked flustered. He wet his lips while his eyes were hurriedly scanning the menu at the wall.

“I’ll have a… caramel macchiato?”

Sunggyu smiled. Woohyun’s choice somehow didn’t surprise him at all. He added two slices of the café’s famous blueberry pie to their order and quickly shut down Woohyun’s protests when it became obvious that he was going to pay for everything. They found a table by the window and sat down while Woohyun kept the conversation going with light small talk. Sunggyu had just taken the first sip of his fancy version of black coffee when Woohyun paused and took a long look at him.

“Uhm… Is everything okay?” Sunggyu asked, suddenly very self-conscious. His heart was beating noticeably faster in his chest and he wasn’t sure if he had gotten more sensitive to the effects of caffeine or if Woohyun was really making him nervous that easily.

Woohyun leant back in his chair and took the mug in front of him into his hands in one swift motion. “I’m sorry, I just have to ask. You probably don’t even remember but, did we go to the same high school? I could swear I’ve seen you before.”

For a moment Sunggyu was convinced he had merely imagined Woohyun’s words out of sheer nervousness, but the expectant look on his face told him otherwise. He hoped that it looked like he had to think about it for a second while he wiped his clammy hands on the soft fabric of his jeans, glad that they were hidden from Woohyun’s sight under the wooden table.

“I do remember,” he finally said with a slow nod and a deliberately calm voice, careful not to let it show just how much Woohyun’s vague memory affected him. He had no idea if his face revealed anything. The smile didn’t feel right, too wide, yet not bright enough. Luckily, Woohyun didn’t seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. His eyes sparkled in excitement and he immediately leant forward again, placing his forearms on the table. “You do? Really?”

“Now that you mention it… Weren’t you on one of the sports teams?” Sunggyu was determined to keep on feigning something close to ignorance. Under no circumstances would he let Woohyun know that he remembered the number on his jersey, his entire training schedule, and even his ridiculous signature victory pose.

“Soccer,” Woohyun answered proudly. “I’ve been pretty serious about it since then. One of my coaches actually got me interested in studying sports science.”

Sunggyu nodded with a short “Oh!” that he hoped made it sound like he found that piece of information interesting - he did - and took another sip of his coffee to stall for time. All the questions he wanted to ask but absolutely could and would not were clouding his mind and he wasn’t able to think of a way to continue the conversation like a normal person for the life of him. Meanwhile, Woohyun had started munching on his cake, seemingly not at all disturbed by the silence Sunggyu found so stressful.

“Where do you live?” he asked between to bites, startling his counterpart who was still sifting through his brain for something to say.

“Huh?”

Woohyun tilted his head the slightest bit as he looked at Sunggyu again. Like a puppy, he thought. “Do you live on campus, or…?”

Sunggyu almost asked him why he would even want to know that when he remembered that he was indeed Woohyun’s assigned welcome tutor and should probably get used to answering whatever questions he had.

“Ah, no. I used to but I moved into a small apartment last semester.”

“Hm, yeah, I thought about renting my own place too, but I don’t think I’ll be able to afford it anytime soon.

“I could ask around, see if anyone I know is moving out or looking for a roommate or something.”

“You would do that?”

A light chuckle escaped Sunggyu’s lips before he could stop it. “Isn’t that what I’m here for? To help you out with stuff?”

The puzzled look made Woohyun look even more like a lost puppy than before. “Oh, yeah, I actually forgot about that for a second.”

“Where are you staying now?” Sunggyu asked with genuine interest. He relaxed a little at the realization that he was finally easing into the conversation with a common topic like this.

“Relatives. My aunt doesn’t live too far from campus and her son just moved out so she agreed to take me in for a while. That’s not a long-term solution though.”

“Many students do that. Find temporary solutions like yours, I mean.”

“It’s probably gonna take some time until I get settled, find a job and all that.”

Sunggyu furrowed his brows. “Haven’t you started looking yet?” Surely Woohyun knew what a lengthy nightmare applying to student jobs was?

“Oh, right! I should’ve probably explained that. I’ve been in Japan for… a while. Since high school, actually. The original plan was to stay for one year but then I got offered a scholarship and ended up staying a lot longer than that. That’s also the reason I have so many questions to ask you. I just came back to Korea, like, a week ago, and to be honest, I’m feeling a little lost and overwhelmed with everything. I don’t even know where to start, there’s so much I need to take care of.”

Sunggyu allowed himself a moment to take in that new piece of information before he asked another question. “So you just decided to trust a complete stranger to help you? You weren’t worried that I’d just turn out to be a useless fool?”

Woohyun let out a surprised laugh and shook his head. “I had a good feeling about you,” he said with a sincere smile. Sunggyu didn’t even try to fight the pleasant and fuzzy feeling in his chest.

“I’d say that’s a pretty bold move but then again you did just go and live abroad on your own for years at a time.” He paused for a moment to study Woohyun’s expression. His lips curled up in amusement and his eyes seemed to dare him to keep talking. “Honestly, I can’t believe your family just let you do that.”

“I wasn’t really on my own. I had a team there. They were like a second family to me.”

“Okay.” Sunggyu nodded, trying to imagine what it was like to live so far away from home. “Do you miss them? Your team?”

“Yeah.” Sunggyu’s heart sank at the sight of Woohyun’s wistful smile. It occurred to him that he probably didn’t even feel at home in this city yet.

“But you have friends in Seoul too, right?”

“I, uh, I have some cousins who live here.”

“So no,” Sunggyu concluded, unsettled by the absurdity of it. He had assumed Woohyun had friends wherever he went. And why wouldn’t he? Who wouldn’t want to be friends with him?

Woohyun shrugged. “Not really.” He was trying to cover it up, but Sunggyu could tell how miserable that thought made him. He personally didn’t mind being alone for long periods of time but Woohyun didn’t strike him as the solitary type and for someone who was so used to being popular and surrounded by people around the clock it must have felt like falling into a black hole.

“I’m sure you’ll have, like, five new friend groups by lunchtime on your first day of uni though.” Sunggyu cringed inwardly. He was good at making people feel bad, however unintentionally, not so much at consoling them. The hopeful look on Woohyun’s face was a relief. “You think so?”

“Do I look like I’m lying?”

Woohyun grinned. “Of course not.”

Sunggyu took a deep breath to prepare himself for his next words. “Before that, before the semester starts I mean, if you need someone to have lunch with or help you with job applications, you can just, you know, text me or whatever.” He almost wished Dongwoo had been there to witness him asking a real human person to communicate with him. It would be hard to convince him later that it had actually happened.

“Really?” Woohyun seemed to like the idea which was nice, but also slightly terrifying.

“You know, I don’t usually do this.”

Woohyun looked at him curiously. “Do what?”

“Tell people to text me. You should feel honored.”  There it was. The naturally blunt and overbearing side of Kim Sunggyu. Dongwoo would be proud of him.

“It’s the greatest honor ever bestowed upon me,” Woohyun replied and pretended to take a little bow. When he looked back up he made eye-contact with Sunggyu who, for the first time, didn’t feel the need to break it and instead just enjoyed the moment.

“Thank you,” Woohyun said softly, completely unaware of what it did to Sunggyu’s heart.

 

* * *

 

“He did remember me from high school. Well, kind of, at least.”

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! What did he say?”

“That was it. That’s what he said.”

"One word: anticlimax."

“Sorry?”

“He really didn’t mention anything else?”

“No, he just… started talking about soccer. Which I kind of asked him about, so.”

“Ugh, I hate boys.”

“We are boys.”

“No!”

“Dongwoo, unless you’ve been keeping secrets from me-“

“We are MEN!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! They finally met! And Woohyun actually remembered Sunggyu's face from all those years ago. Does that mean anything? Is it just a fortunate coincidence? I assure you that Sunggyu is losing sleep over this.
> 
> Turns out I'm used to writing established woogyu friendship/relationship scenarios and this first meeting was actually pretty hard to write :'D
> 
> Let me know what you think, I really like reading your comments ♥


	4. Chapter 4

The first time Woohyun asked him to have dinner with him was three days later. Sunggyu hadn’t been sure if he would really take him up on his offer but wholeheartedly hoped that their first encounter wouldn’t be their last. He was at his sister’s place when he got the message. They were sitting at her kitchen table, both just scrolling through social media since their conversation had died down a few minutes earlier and occasionally sipping on their sweetened black tea. He had moved somewhat abruptly when his phone chimed traitorously – hadn’t he put it on silent earlier? In any case, he could feel his sister watching him with growing interest as he read the simple text Woohyun had sent him. He tried to avoid looking up at her, knowing full well she wouldn’t give up so easily once something had made her even just a little bit suspicious.

“Who’s that message from?” she asked in a voice that he assumed was supposed to sound innocent.

“A friend.” He pretended not to care and went back to scrolling through posts he wasn’t even looking at anymore. He would have to answer sooner or later – sooner, probably, because Woohyun wanted to meet up a few hours later, but he was too stubborn to give his sister the satisfaction of seeing him mull over a reply to a text that had somehow already caught her interest. He heard a little thump and looked up in shock. Had she just voluntarily put her phone down?

“Which friend?”

Sunggyu leant back in his chair and crossed his arms defiantly. He was still holding onto his phone in case that crazy woman decided to steal it from him. “You don’t know them.”

Jieun gasped. “A new friend?”

“Please stop.”

She was getting visibly excited now and completely ignored his plea. “Boy or girl? No, wait, let me rephrase. Platonic or romantic interest?”

Sunggyu sighed dramatically. His sister acted more like a teenager than a married woman in her late twenties and she knew he hated it. She also knew that they were close enough for him to eventually give in. “Boy. And… I don’t know?”

“So he’s cute,” she concluded and wriggled her eyebrows.

“Yeah,” Sunggyu said helplessly.

“Show me a picture!”

“I don’t have any.”

“Instagram?”

Sunggyu shook his head. Why was everyone so adamant about seeing his instagram account? “I don’t follow him.”

Jieun sighed in exasperation and grabbed her phone. “Kim Sunggyu, you are so useless. I’m just going to have to ask Dongwoo.”

“Please don’t.”

“Too late, I’m already texting him.”

“I’m pretty sure he only gave you his number for emergencies.”

“And I’m pretty sure he’ll understand that this _is_ an emergency.”

Sunggyu didn’t know how to respond to that. Knowing Dongwoo, he probably would consider this a crisis and therefore a top priority. “Sometimes I think you two are the same person.”

His sister laughed. “Sometimes I think you’re not even a person at all.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, little brother.”

Sunggyu watched her type away and decided that he might as well use the situation to his advantage. “While you’re at it, can you ask him if he has time to have dinner with me tonight?”

“With you or with you and Nam Woohyun?”

“Great, you already know his name.”

“Dongwoo and I are fast texters.”

He looked at her impatiently. “So?”

“He’s still practicing with Hoya and the rest of the crew until late, so no. He’s also telling me to tell you to have fun with Namu. Oh, Namu! What a cute nickname!”

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone except Dongwoo calls him that.”

“Well, now there’s already two of us calling him that, so you better join the club before it’s too late.”

“No, thanks.”

“Too bad. No members’ club t-shirt for you.”

“What?”

“Shouldn’ you text Namu back about your dinner plans? You can’t just leave him on read like this.”

Sunggyu looked down at his phone with a frown. “Right.”

It wasn’t that he wasn’t looking forward to seeing Woohyun, but it would have been nice to have someone there who didn’t make him so nervous. He didn’t want Woohyun to think his entire personality consisted of awkwardness. He forced himself not to think about it too much and replied with what he hoped was a normal enough message telling Woohyun that he would meet him at the suggested time and place. Woohyun had actually texted him a few times about his job applications over the past few days, so he was slowly getting used to their short written exchanges.

Sunggyu decided to stay at Jieun’s place until he would head out to meet Woohyun. They spent most of the time talking about and watching videos of Yoonhoo, Sunggyu’s nephew and probably the only six-year-old he didn’t find annoying, and fighting over the (ir)relevance of celebrity gossip.

When it was time for Sunggyu to leave, Jieun suggested she could drive him but he turned down the offer without a second thought. He never quite understood people who voluntarily drove a car in the city center instead of just taking public transport and aside from that he didn’t want his sister to spend even more of her valuable free time on him.

It was only a ten minute bus ride to Dongdaemun followed by a short walk to the udon restaurant Woohyun wanted to eat at and Sunggyu enjoyed the few minutes he had to himself. From the moment he walked out the door he only looked at his phone once – to put on his favorite playlist. It was just starting to get dark outside and he loved the change of atmosphere that came with the sunset. Nights promised less pressure, a sense of calm and endless possibilities, and it showed in the way people carried themselves.

This time it was Woohyun who was already waiting outside. He greeted Sunggyu with an enthusiastic wave when he was still a good 20 meters away and Sunggyu offered a considerably smaller wave in return, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself. He carelessly stuffed his headphones into his coat pocket and walked up to Woohyun with quick steps.

“You could have waited inside. It’s cold.”

He should really work on his greetings, Sunggyu thought to himself. Why couldn’t he ever start with a simple Hello when he met Woohyun?

“It’s okay,” Woohyun laughed. “The air out here is refreshing and it’s fun to just watch people, especially at night.” He faltered and looked at Sunggyu with wide eyes. “No, wait, that sounded wrong and that is so not what I meant!”

Sunggyu chuckled at the other’s sudden distress. “No, I know what you mean.”

They went inside and were quickly shown to a free table in the busy restaurant by one of the waitresses. She handed them their menus and placed a jug of water and two cups on the table before they could even sit down.

“Any recommendations,” Sunggyu asked while his eyes scanned the seemingly endless list of dishes and set meals.

“It’s actually my first time coming here,” Woohyun said and hurriedly added, “It’s supposed to be really good though! And I’ve been craving udon all day so I could eat all of these right now, to be honest.”

An image of Woohyun storing noodles in his cheeks like a hamster flashed before Sunggyu’s inner eye and he had to hide his smile by burying his nose deeper in the menu. “We definitely need to have some tempura,” he thought out loud and Woohyun agreed with an enthusiastic nod.

“Should we just order two sets and share?”

They were both too hungry to make it any more complicated than necessary, so each of them chose a set meal that they would share as Woohyun had suggested. After they had placed their order, they fell into silence. Woohyun was just opening his mouth to say something when his phone chimed and a new notification popped up. He picked it up from where it had been lying on table and seemed to contemplate something as he opened whatever message he had gotten.

“Everything okay?” Sunggyu asked when Woohyun just continued to stare at the screen.

Woohyun nodded slowly, then suddenly snapped out of whatever thoughts he’d been having and met Sunggyu’s questioning eyes. “Sorry. It’s just my cousin. Would you mind if he joined us?”

“Not at all.”

“He’ll be happy to hear that.” Woohyun smiled and typed an answer so short that the movement of his thumbs barely registered with Sunggyu who couldn’t shake the feeling that something about this wasn’t right.

“Wait a second.” He could almost feel the confusion appear on his face when he finally grasped the thought that had been forming in his head. “I thought you were only going to ask me to eat with you when no one else is available.”

Woohyun looked flustered at this revelation. “Ah. Well. I just wanted to see you again,” he said. His voice was a little smaller than before, but he managed to maintain his air of confidence and didn’t break eye contact. How, Sunggyu didn’t know. He wouldn’t have been able to utter something so blunt and potentially embarrassing in such a nonchalant way. Or at all. Apparently he had stayed silent for a little too long in his stunned state, and Woohyun felt obligated to justify his wish to have dinner with Sunggyu.

“I meet him all the time. My cousin, I mean. It’s starting to get a little boring. And besides, you were the one who said we could be friends, right?”

“I said you could text me,” Sunggyu corrected him with an amused grin. Woohyun finally started to look a little unsettled, and he enjoyed it immensely. Oh, how the tables had turned.

“So… we can’t be friends? Are you going to leave now?”

Sunggyu burst into laughter at his drastic thought process and Woohyun relaxed almost immediately. “Don’t scare me like that,” he scolded Sunggyu, but he sounded way too relieved to add any authority to his words.

“I wasn’t even doing anything, you scared yourself!”

“Ah, Sunggyu, is this how you act around your friends? I’m suddenly not sure if I want to be one of them anymore,” Woohyun joked. The shock must have shown on Sunggyu’s face because now Woohyun was the one laughing.

“Is that how you treat your seniors?!”

“What’s going on here?” A third voice piped up and Sunggyu turned around in his seat to see with his own eyes who in the world had the audacity to interrupt them.

“Ah, there he is! That’s my cousin-“ Woohyun started as he had immediately recognized the newcomer. But so had Sunggyu. “Sungjong?”

Sungjong’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Sunggyu?”

“You’re Woohyun’s cousin?”

“You two know each other?” Woohyun seemed a little overwhelmed by the situation and Sunggyu honestly couldn’t blame him. Sungjong looked at him as if he had momentarily forgotten his presence and was only now reminded of it, but then quickly focused on Sunggyu again.

“We do! Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m seeing you right now!”

Sunggyu stood up to greet his long-lost acquaintance properly – it had been years since they’d seen each other after all – and was promptly met with a hug so tight it knocked the air out of him. All that did was take Sunggyu by surprise and confuse Woohyun even more. Sungjong finally took pity on both of them when he released Sunggyu from his embrace and started to explain the situation to Woohyun.

 “We went to the same summer camp years ago! I was tiny back then and Sunggyu protected me from the mean kids.”

“You’re so tall now,” Sunggyu said in amazement, “And confident.” It didn’t take an expert to see that Sungjong had changed a lot over the years. The way he talked, the way he dressed – colorful and obviously in tune with the latest fashion trends – and the fact that he actually made eye contact with everyone he talked to were more than telling. Sungjong laughed at his observations but didn’t deny either. “I don’t think you had anything to do with my height but you definitely taught me how to speak up for myself.”

He was the first one to sit down and the other two followed suit. Sunggyu glanced at Woohyun who looked a little bit lost on his side of the table and seemed eager to become a part of the conversation again. Maybe he should tell him more about how he and Sungjong met so that he wouldn’t feel left out?

“There was that one kid – what was his name again?”

“Lee Jungyeop.”

“Lee Jungyeop! Ah, I hated that little punk so much. He always picked on smaller kids like Sungjong but as soon as someone his size spoke up to him he ran away like the coward he actually was.”

Woohyun was clearly fascinated by this little anecdote of Sunggyu’s heroic deeds and thanked him for protecting his little cousin with a warm smile. Sunggyu stammered out a half-sentence about how he hadn’t even done anything when Sungjong spoke up again.

“Are you still determined to become a world-famous singer?”

Sunggyu blushed and shot Woohyun a quick glance. Why did Sungjong have to phrase it like that?

“Ah, something like that. I’m studying music at uni now.”

“That’s so great!” He let out a content sigh and turned to look at Woohyun. “I can’t believe Sunggyu is the friend you were with! How do you two know each other?”

“We went to high school together but didn’t really know each other then and now Sunggyu is helping freshmen getting started at my university,” Woohyun explained shortly.

“Not ‘freshmen’, actually, just you,” Sunggyu added. Woohyun’s smile got a little wider at that.

“Oh, okay,” Sungjong said slowly, drawing out the oh. He looked at Sunggyu and then at Woohyun with a curious expression. “Wouldn’t it be funny if he was that senior that you- Ouch!”

Woohyun had quite obviously kicked Sungjong under the table, prompting him to hiss out a string of curses. Sunggyu looked at both of them with raised eyebrows. Had he missed something?

“Sorry, must have been a spasm in my leg or something,” Woohyun said brightly and reached over the table to pat Sungjong’s shoulder. Sungjong brushed off his hand as if it was a pesky little fly and continued to glare at him. “Yeah, a spasm,” he repeated surly.

Woohyun changed the subject before Sunggyu could ask what had just happened and they kept talking about harmless things until their food arrived. Sungjong merely wanted to eat a small bowl of udon without any side dishes which was easy to add to their order and they didn’t have to wait much longer until everything was served. The conversation died down immediately on Woohyun’s and Sunggyu’s part. They were so focused on the food that they barely had enough time to breathe in between bites. Sungjong didn’t seem to mind and kept on showering them with details about his current life and interests in a ceaseless monologue. He was working towards a career in fashion design and was visibly passionate about it. Almost as passionate as Sunggyu and Woohyun got in their fight over who got to pay the bill after they had finished the meal.

“I’m the oldest here, just let me pay. It’s okay, really.”

“You already paid for coffee last time, though.”

“Exactly, coffee, not an entire meal set, that’s a huge difference.”

“But I want to thank you for helping me with my applications and everything!”

“See? You don’t even have a job yet! How could I let you pay?” Sunggyu paused and looked at Woohyun with widening eyes. “A job. A job! Woohyun, I have a job offer for you!”

Sungjong, who had followed their conversation as if he was watching a ping pong match, snorted in amusement. “Did you just make that up?”

“Yes! I mean no! Of course not. My sister told me about it today but I completely forgot to mention it.”

It took Woohyun a few seconds to process the news before he got visibly excited. “Really? What is it? What kind of job?”

“My nephew’s soccer team is looking for an assistant trainer and I thought you might be interested in that. If you don’t mind working with kids.”

Woohyun’s eyes were sparkling with excitement by now. „I’d love to work with kids!“

Of course he would. Imagining it alone was sweet enough to give Sunggyu diabetes.

“Where can I apply?” he asked impatiently.

Sunggyu laughed at his eagerness. “Wait a second, my sister gave me the phone number.”

It didn’t take long to forward the number to Woohyun who jumped up from the table almost immediately.

“You don’t mind if I call them right now, do you?”

“Go ahead. The trainer’s name is Choi, by the way. Choi Minho. Just ask for him.”

“Great! Thank you so much! I’ll be back in a minute!”

Woohyun didn’t waste a second and hurried outside to make the phone call. Sungjong propped his head up on one hand and looked at Sunggyu with an amused expression. “You’re going to pay the bill while he’s gone, won’t you?”

Sunggyu grinned at him and pulled out his wallet. “Absolutely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome Sungjong, beloved cousin slash summer camp aquaintance!  
> I feel like he knows something we don't know. Will we ever find out what that could be?
> 
> Thanks a lot to all of you who put up with my irregular updates, I'm happy to see people are still reading this ♥


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